5. Full needs assessment

If a person qualifies for a full assessment of need, it will be led by a coordinating assessor from a Multidisciplinary Team. This means that two professionals from different backgrounds will work together on the full assessment of need. This is usually a nurse and a social worker.

They will contact you soon after the checklist result to arrange the full assessment, which should be done within 28 days.

The assessment should include all members of the person’s health and social care team.

The assessment panel will complete a Decision Support Tool (DST): a detailed record of the person’s needs in 12 separate areas. These areas are called ‘domains’.

The full assessment follows a similar process to the checklist but uses a Decision Support Tool (DST) instead.

It also looks at ‘other significant care needs to be taken into consideration’. This could be other care needs that don’t fit into the domains.

Levels of need are used as a guide, but you (or the person you care for) will usually be eligible for CHC funding if there is evidence of one ‘priority’ or two ‘severe’ levels of need.

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